Balance body: learn how to target those stubborn, slow-to-grow body parts with a technique called priority training

Men's Fitness, Oct, 2003 by Jim Stoppani

Get your priorities straight is a phrase that resonates in almost all aspects of your life. Coming from your boss, it means it's time to buckle down and get the work done. Coming from your girlfriend, it's time to cut back on the boys' nights out. But coming from MEN'S FITNESS? What could that possibly mean?

Well, it doesn't mean that your training should take priority over all other components of your life. That's unrealistic and impractical, and you'd only end up pissing off your boss and your girlfriend. After all, except for those few minutes you spend every morning posing naked in the mirror, what good is a set of sliced abs when you're unemployed and all alone?

Getting your priorities straight in respect to training involves correctly structuring your workout program. Using a technique appropriately named "priority training" can help you perfect your physique and satisfy all those other nagging priorities.

WHAT IT IS

"Most lifters use [priority training] to maintain a body that's balanced and symmetrical", says Tim Scheett, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise science at the University of Southern Mississippi. "Others use it to develop a particular body part far beyond the rest. But to avoid building gorilla arms with chicken legs, it's a good idea to take a long, hard and honest look at yourself to determine what body parts you need to work on, and which ones are fairly adequate." Better yet, get a critique from one of your buddies or your girlfriend--but you'll have to explain to her that priority training only works on muscles.

HOW TO USE IT

After you get an honest assessment, you can devise a more targeted lifting program. Scheett explains: "The way you organize your training program depends upon the areas you define as priorities. While the general concept is that you will train those body parts more often, more intensely, and with more focus, there also are some specific methods you need to follow depending on the areas you want to target.

"For instance," Scheett continues, "to prioritize muscle groups like chest, back or legs, you could train them on the first day of your lifting cycle--say, Monday. But if your priority muscle groups are biceps or triceps, you would not train them first in the cycle, as this would limit your strength during your chest, back and shoulder workouts. Instead, to prioritize biceps or triceps you would train them together, on a separate day from the other muscle groups."

Priority training can be broken down even further. For example, in assessing your shoulders, you may realize that your rear deltoids are lagging. Applying priority training, your first shoulder exercise would be (after a warm-up, of course) rear laterals, rather then the traditional opening movement, overhead presses. For a second example, working your chest, you may decide that your upper pecs need more meat to balance out the rest of your upper-body development. In this case, you would start your pec workouts not with flat benches, but with incline movements, anything from incline dumbbell or barbell presses to incline flyes.

The goal with priority training is to hit the target muscle early on in a workout, when you've still got all your energy reserves intact. With priority training, however, you still need to follow sound lifting techniques. Using the suggestions we provide in "Priority-Training Methods" (left) will allow you to push those lagging body parts up to par while maintaining even development everywhere else on your body, as well as in your life.

PRIORITY-TRAINING METHODS

After determining which spots on your body lack development, use this guide to design a priority-based program that addresses the problem areas.

Chest, thighs or back: Use one of the following solutions: 1) Train first in your workout cycle; 2) train alone or on its own day; or 3) train an additional day each week.

Shoulders: 1) Train early in workout cycle but not before chest; 2) train alone on their own day; or 3) train an additional day each week.

Biceps, triceps: 1) Train with just triceps or biceps, or 2) train first (before biceps or triceps).

Abs: Train three to six days per week.

Traps: Train after shoulder and/or back workouts.

Calves: Train three days per week and always before any other major body part.

Forearms: Train twice per week.

Specific body-part areas: In workouts for a given body part, do exercises that target the weak area first--upper chest, middle back, lower abs, posterior deltoid, etc.

UPPER-CHEST
PRIORITY WORKOUT

This sample workout is for
the guy who wants to make his
upper chest a priority.

Monday: Chest

EXERCISE              SETS   REPS

Incline-bench press    3     6-8
Incline fiye           3      10
Flat dumbbell press    3     8-10

Tuesday: Shoulders, triceps
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Back. biceps

Friday: Chest, legs

EXERCISE           SETS   REPS
Incline dumbbell
press               3     8-10
Cable crossover     3     10-12

Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off